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The role of the [[analyst]] in the [[treatment]] is twofold.
First and foremost, he must listen to the [[analysand]], but he must also intervene by speaking to the [[analysand]].
Although the [[analyst]]'s [[speech]] is characterized by many different kinds of [[speech|speech act]] (asking questions, giving instructions, etc.), it is the offering of [[interpretation]]s which plays the most crucial and distinctive role in the [[treatment]].
Broadly speaking, the [[analyst]] can be said to offer an [[interpretation]] when he says something that subverts the [[analysand]]'s [[conscious]] 'everyday' way of looking at something.
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[[Freud]] first began offering [[interpretation]]s to his [[patient]]s in order to help them remember an idea that had been [[repressed]] from [[memory]].
These [[interpretation]]s were educated guesses about what the [[patient]]s had omitted from their account of the events which led up to the [[formation]] of their [[symptom]]s.
For example, in one of the earliest [[interpretation]]s, [[Freud]] told one [[patient]] that she had not revealed all her motives for the intense affection she showed towards her employer's children, and went on to say; "I believe that really you are in love with your employer, the Director, though perhaps without being aware of it yourself."<ref>{{F}} 1895d. SE II. p.117</ref>
The purpose of the [[interpretation]] was to help the [[patient]] become [[conscious]] of [[unconscious]] thoughts.
